Across the nation, many individuals who identify as transgender or gender diverse avoid accessing health care, even basic primary care, because of fear of discrimination or mistreatment — but WVU Medicine is implementing a number of strategies to improve care for this patient population.
Medical specialists often can’t—or choose not to—work in rural emergency departments. But Scott Findley, a researcher with the WVU School of Medicine, and his colleagues are using telehealth to close that gap. They have received a $1.2 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to support telehealth at four rural emergency departments in West Virginia. Findley and his colleagues will connect the four emergency departments with WVU Medicine specialists in Morgantown.
A $50,000 gift to the WVU Cancer Institute from its former director and his wife will boost research efforts aimed at improving cancer care for patients in West Virginia and beyond.
Just because it’s legal to buy emergency contraception over the counter doesn’t mean it’s easy. In a new study led by Amie Ashcraft—a researcher with the WVU School of Medicine—chain pharmacies were more likely than smaller, independent ones to keep emergency contraception in stock. Chain pharmacies also made it easier to access and provided more information about its effectiveness.
Dr. Sally Hodder, director of the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute headquartered at WVU, will lead an eight-state consortium that will contribute to a national COVID-19 data resource, thanks to a $1.5 million National Institutes of Health grant.
Widespread COVID-19 testing may be an obvious way to control an outbreak in a long-term care facility. But communication among the facility’s staff, its residents and the residents’ family members is crucial, too. A new study led by Carl Shrader, a physician and researcher in the Department of Family Medicine in the West Virginia University School of Medicine, revealed the role that communication played in quashing a COVID-19 outbreak at Sundale, a long-term care facility in Morgantown.
West Virginia University School of Medicine students will benefit from a retired alum, Dr. John E. Cooke’s, dedicated effort to donate $100,000 in scholarship support.
A $4.8 million trust gift from longtime West Virginia University supporter David G. Allen is benefitting five programs across campus that reflect his diverse interests in education, health, athletics and more.
Artificial intelligence can do more than recommend a song or suggest what to write in an email. It might even be able to predict outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Larissa Casaburi—a researcher in the WVU School of Medicine—and her colleagues are using artificial intelligence to study how being a coal miner affects COVID-19 outcomes. She’s also investigating the ways smoking, vaping and having chronic lung disease influence how COVID-19 patients fare.
More and more West Virginians, financially burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic, are turning to food banks to put meals on their tables – and one team of West Virginia University physicians is pledging to provide more fresh and frozen food for those in need.